


Homefires Burning

by keshwyn



Series: Hearth Sorcery [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: But it's not a magic bullet, Gen, Implied/Referenced Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Platonic Female/Female Relationships, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Tea Is Always A Good Idea, Therapy is effective, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 17:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18451622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keshwyn/pseuds/keshwyn
Summary: People rarely notice the ones who keep the homefires burning, but they are there, whether they are noticed or not - and they are there whether the building is a condo, a tiny single-family, or a giant house in New York City that happens to be a Sanctum Sanctorum.





	Homefires Burning

Her mother never struck her.  Perhaps she was damning with faint praise, but Yue knew perfectly well that the woman had left a great many scars on her soul by language alone.  Scars that no one could see but that her mentors were well aware of. Which was why she was sitting in front of the Seneschal and the Master of the Hong Kong Sanctum, focusing on her breathing and trying not to let old habits ambush her.

They allowed her the moments of grace she needed. They waited patiently while she pulled herself back together again, reorganized her thoughts for what perhaps was the tenth time, considered and rejected half a dozen questions, and then said, simply, "Why would you pick me?"

Master Fei smiled, although it was tinged with sadness, and lifted a hand to tick reasons off on her fingers, each with a characteristic flare of orange light.  "One: I know perfectly well who ran my sanctum the last time Li Wei had an attack of cluster headaches."

The Seneschal nodded wearily, and rubbed his forehead.  "Someday, we will get to the bottom of these," he promised Yue.  "But don't think I missed what you did."

Yue half-smiled, both pleased and pained at the same moment.  Old habits died hard, and the habit of being invisible was one of the hardest to lose.

"Two: the New York and London sanctums are now both badly in need of trained staff, but London…" she shared a glance with Li Wei.  "The Masters have chosen Master Arjun as the new Master of the London Sanctum."

Given that Master Arjun had driven Yue to tears monthly during his year-long rotation in intensive study under Master Fei - even if it had been five years ago! - Yue appreciated the consideration.  "I think I could probably control myself now," she murmured.

"I have no doubts of that," Li Wei said instantly, "especially after seeing you deal with Dhruv last winter.  But New York needs a Seneschal, so there is no need to awaken old wounds. We have enough new ones to deal with."

The three sat in silence for a moment, honoring the dead.

Master Fei raised a third finger.  "Three: There will be no apprentices in the New York sanctum for at least a year, which will give you time to find your feet.  Master - excuse me, Doctor Strange is quite talented, and highly driven, and while I have my doubts as to the Ancient One's...motives in choosing him to head the Sanctum there, after last month, I think we can all agree he is an effective guardian."

The fact that he'd been studying the mystic arts for less than a year was left unsaid.  Yue herself would have had more time to study them than the man who would head the new Sanctum.  That would be an interesting state of affairs. "I've never even met him," she pointed out.

"Most of the younger members of our Order haven't met him either," Li Wei retorted.  "You will be in excellent company."

"Four, I have decided to retire as Master of this Sanctum at the end of next year."

Yue felt her jaw drop in shock, and closed it with a jolt of teeth clashing together.  Master Fei was not old - no more than sixty although Yue had never asked her exactly how old she was - and her skills were undiminished by the passing of time.  "But!" she protested.

"We are undergoing a seismic shift in our Order, and with the deaths of so many Masters recently, I feel it is necessary for me to direct my attentions toward making certain this transition does not lose sight of the reason we are **making** it.  I will remain as Master of the Hong Kong Sanctum until Master Arjun is settled," she left it unsaid that she was uncertain how long this Doctor Strange would take, "and then leave the guarding of the Sanctums to younger blood."

"But, but Master Fei…"

"I plan to take up teaching, perhaps instruction of the students who are ready for areas of more advanced study.  I shall enjoy not having to endure the monthly argument session with the other Sanctum Masters."

Yue tried to think of some counter to that.

Li Wei smiled.  "You may save your breath, Yue - I have already had this conversation with her at least twenty times, and I do hope to talk her out of it yet -- but the fact of the matter is that things are changing.  The Ancient One is no longer the guiding light of our Order, and we must adjust accordingly."

"Which brings me to my last reason.  You are growing stale, Yue," Master Fei said, raising a fifth finger.  "You are no longer a novice, but you content yourself with small tasks and seek to efface yourself needlessly."  When Yue opened her mouth to protest, Master Fei shook her head. "I spoke to Doctor Inika first - I will not send you into a challenge I do not believe you cannot meet, Yue, but she agrees.  A challenge at this point will do you no harm, and will likely do you some good. And you will not be without resources."

"I'm not ready!" Yue protested, feeling slightly betrayed by her therapist's endorsement of this plan of action.

Li Wei smiled his warm smile and gave her hand a little squeeze.  "None of us ever are, Yue."

Which was how Yue found herself standing in a deserted New York Sanctum later that day while a cold March wind whistled past the windows, wondering why the heat wasn't working, while Master Fei told Masters Arjun and Strange about their new staff at a conference in Kamar Taj, and discussed improvements and augmentations to the wards of the Sancta Sanctorum.

 

* * *

 

It took her most of the morning to figure out what was wrong with the furnace.  The spells had been well-maintained for a time, but the past month without attention had allowed them to deteriorate.  This was further complicated by the fact that the manual had gotten wet in the catastrophes afflicting the sanctum, and it took her over an hour's work to puzzle out the vowels in the incantation.  The handwritten notes in the margin about what the exact pressure should be to keep the pipes from knocking were the only thing that kept her from tearing her hair out; it was only the main spell she had to re-create, not any of the subsidiary fine-tuning work.

When she was done and the furnace was burning again - and the pipes were pinging the soft sounds of steam making them expand - Yue sat back on her heels and sighed. Then she pulled a blank piece of paper out of her satchel, tore it into precise rectangular strips, and drew a coarse replica of the American hundred dollar bill on each one.

She burned the paper money in the furnace fire as an offering to the departed spirit of Seneschal Gloria, who had left the notes, and as a centering exercise for her own unsettled spirit.

Then she rewrote the manual so that she wouldn't have to re-puzzle out the incantation at the next full moon, and so that whoever her successor was wouldn't tear their hair out in frustration either.  

Then she wrote herself a reminder to put it in a ziplock bag so that if the furnace leaked at any point, it would stay dry.

 **Then** she went to reset the offline WiFi router so that she could Google where the nearest Dim Sum restaurant was, because she was starving, and she was willing to bet every cent she didn't have that there was nothing to eat in the household right now but stale instant ramen.

 

* * *

 

When she returned from a truly excellent lunch, she found Master Wong in the main hall, waiting for her - alone.  Yue felt something inside her chest relax, and realised that she was actually dreading meeting the new Master of the Sanctum.  But Master Wong had always been kind to her - he said what he meant, when he meant it, and he didn't bother with false praise.

"Master Wong," she said, bow to him.

"Seneschal Yue," he said, startling her by returning her bow.  "I came to give you your first assignment and see how you were settling in."

It felt like Yue's eyebrows were attempting to climb into her hairline.  "My what?" she said, hunching slightly against the feeling of tension in her stomach that always arose when she was surprised by someone who had authority over her.  She realized she was doing it and did her best to straighten up. ( _If you can stand as if you believe you are safe, your body can help convince your mind that you are,_ said a memory of Doctor Inika's voice in her mind.)

"Your assignment," said Wong, handing her a small book bound in grey leather. "You're past novice work, but I expect that once you have a handle on the household workings, you will need something to keep your mind engaged.  And Master Fei told me you have been seeking an area to specialize in."

"I have?" Yue was startled.   _I hadn't really thought of it that way…_

Wong nodded.  "Many who don't have their calling suddenly thrust on them find themselves adrift at this stage of life.  I will give you three months to read that; you will have many things to do initially. Do you need anything else?"

"Money," Yue said instantly. "So I can get some groceries.  And the physical keys to any spells that I need to know about."

"Hmm," said Wong, and led her back to a small room near the back of the house, tucked just off the kitchen. It had a broken door, a desk and chair, three shelves from which nearly everything had been displaced, a filing cabinet, and an overstuffed easy chair.  It also had a safe in which there was a neatly written ledger detailing the Sanctum's finances - Wong gave her the code - and a keyring.

"Thank you, Master Wong," Yue sighed, looking at the wreck of the office.  "I believe I can take it from here."

"I believe you can."  He glanced up at the clock that still - miraculously - hung from the wall.  "I believe Stephen will be returning soon. Do you want an introduction?"

The voice in in the back of Yue's mind that was perpetually stuck at a traumatized 12 years old screamed, _NO!!!_ at the top of her lungs.  The rest of her psyche, which had been turned upside down and shaken vehemently by this extremely off-putting day, was in complete agreement with her inner 12 year old.  She was not interested in meeting anyone new today.

"Yes please.  A brief one."

Yue could have sworn that Wong looked momentarily startled, but he couldn't possibly be more startled than she herself felt that moment.   _Where did_ **_that_ ** _come from?_

"Good," he said, and with perfect timing, she heard the portal to Kamar Taj open upstairs.

She followed Wong up the grand staircase, past a dozen magic artifacts that she imagined must be watching curiously, until she found herself face to chest - she looked up - face to face with the very tall Master of the New York Sanctum. Technically, he was her boss.   _Those blue eyes are very, very tired,_ she realized.

"Wong," he said, nodding to the Master Wong in a voice that gave nothing away.  "And Seneschal Yue?"

"..." she said, bowing and thinking longingly of the easy camaraderie between Li Wei and Master Fei. That would take time, she knew. Just like it had taken time for her to get used to Dr. Inika and Master Wong and everyone else in her life.   _Damn you mother.  I will get over you.  Just watch me._

"I'm told your job is to keep the Sanctum running, and mine is to keep it from being destroyed," he said.  "Thank you for getting the heat turned on. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Yue discovered that she had no idea what the answer to that question was.  She couldn't look away from his face - that would be incredibly rude - and she couldn't get her mouth to work.  She retreated back to a pained, small shake of her head, and waited.

"Well...thank you," he said, looking even more tired.

Yue took that as her cue and bowed herself away.  As she left, she heard Wong murmur to him, "She only found out this morning."

"At least she got more warning than I did," she heard Strange sigh, but it didn't sound unhappy. Merely exhausted.

 _Tea_ , she thought.   _I need to put jasmine tea on the shopping list.  For_ **_both_ ** _of us._

**Author's Note:**

> We never see anyone in the New York Sanctum but Wong and Stephen, but keeping a house that large under repair isn't going to be something that the two of them can do by themselves if they're out saving the multiverse on a regular basis. (Particularly since Wong has to take care of the Library too.) So clearly, there's a support structure for these things - the Order's had a Millennia to figure this out, and also to figure out that you don't denigrate the people who do that sort of support work.
> 
> Seneschal has a female form - Seneschale. I have chosen not to use it deliberately to indicate that this particular post is one that can be held by someone of any gender, rather than using the more loaded term Housekeeper, which has a whole bunch of cultural baggage.


End file.
